Plotting to PDF with Transparency - Problems with Flattening to Print

[kevincoffey]

Dear Members,

I would like you assistance with an issue regarinding PDF printing that has been proving time-consuming in our office.

Background:
We often use PDFs as a means of transmitting information to clients and for any digital records that we keep on the server. This allows them to be opened by anybody in the office without requiring any additional software to be downloaded - e.g. Autodesk Design Review or Autodesk Trueview.

Our current method of exporting PDFs is either through the Plot command using the inbuilt 'DWG to PDF' plotter with Autocad or via the Publish command where we can batch plot and easily remove layer information. The inbuilt 'DWG to PDF' gives the best PDF results from all the plotters that we have tried; it doesn't pixelate any text on the drawings and seems to avoid any issue with triangular plot hatches.

We are trying to move away from any photoshopping post-drawing as this leads to huge workflow problems later when small changes are made - e.g. small change to elevation, plot to pdf, rasterize pdf, make changes to photoshop, print to pdf again. As such, we have started to make use of the transparency command across full drawing sets.

In plans, it is useful as it allows us to XREF in a landscape plan and gradually lighten it on upper floor by adjusting the transparency. In elevations & sections, we can add basic shadows that are comparable with photoshop.

Problem:
Following the use of transparencies, we can plot directly to our large printers without issue. We can create PDFs without issue. However, the PDFs that we produce are almost unprintable - this is the main issue.

The time that it takes to flatten the PDFs is almost unworkable and, when a drawing does finally print, there are often errors in the plots.

For our local commercial print workshop, we send them PLTs so that they can print them correctly; the PDFs do not print correctly for them.

Some users in the office say that Microstation could produce comparable PDFs and there was never a single issue with printing them but I do not have any experience with that software so I could not object.

Query:

Can Autocad flatten a PDF so that in appearance it is similar to a PDF with transparency but actually only uses solid colours? I.e. Similar in speed to a rasterized photoshop but still with most of the vector information. As in if I had a black rectangular hatch @ 50% transparency, autocad would plot the pdf with a grey rectangular hatch rather than using the transparency information.

[pendean]

'transparency' is a layering process in a PDF file from AutoCAD (same effect as plotting a PDF with Layer lists on). Printing is flat process and any application with layering (like Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator etc.) will create the same type of PDF issues with time needed to faten it for output first.

Common all around workarounds require the recipient (not the sender) to address it: sometime setting the PDF viewer to PRINT AS IMAGE option speeds it up a little.
Or you need to figure out how to create 'raster" PDF files using the method above and send only those to your recipients (yep, two steps for you sadly).

See the bottom of this page from Adobe on tips to do what you seek:
http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/printing-complex-pdfs-acrobat.html

[kevincoffey]

Thank you, Dean Saadallah. We use a bit of ‘print as image’ in the office for some of the heavy PDFs but the quality suffers a little.

I know there is an additional step required in your process but I was curious if others have solved the problem totally within autocad? Some people could use dots instead of transparency as their hatch, which wouldn’t require any transparency layer, but this just seems a bit ‘old-fashioned’ perhaps. I just thought that with the latest versions of Autocad that there might be a smarter way around this issue.

[pendean]

A 'dot' or other hatch pattern 'drawordered' in place with LineMerge turned off is about the only alternative in AutoCAD.

Good luck: you (and I) and about a few million other PDF creators have wished for and are still looking for this cure for vector-PDFs.

[Anonymous]

I have just beein waiting half an hour for a PDF plot with transparent. Impossible to stop without closing the program. This is another example why i am now considering another program - Archicad.

[kevincoffey]

As Dean Saadallah mentioned above, using the setting "Print as Image" will allow you to print out PDFs with transparency. It is a setting in Adobe Reader (and Adobe Acrobat of course).

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I don't know what ACAD version you use. Versions from ACAD 2011 onwards have an option to plot transparency. First, make sure you set "TransparencyDisplay=1". Prior to plotting, there is an option on the right side of the dialog box. Tick the "Plot transparency" then you're good to 😃

[kevincoffey]

Thanks jopet_calip but this was not the question I was asking. The question is in relation to the PDF that is created afterwards with transparency.

[mcguirekenneth]

Try exporting to PDF from the main dropdown AutoCAD menu.

[jessica.miller]

We just moved to BluBeam & are having the same issue.  When set to print image the quality of the print plummets; unacceptable for production.

[arq.vr02.fernheim]

Yes it works, but it is time killing. I hope there is a faster solution 

[pendean]

You get layering in a PDF (requires flattening when printed) if you do the following in AutoCAD or the PDF driver:

- Use Transparency
- Turn on Layers in the PDF
- Turn on/use Merge Control's Lines Merge feature.

Work with these realities/facts, no one here can change the behavior for you.

[simonp100]

Nice one! work perfect